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Factsheet
Using CorelDraw to make tactile images
It is suggested you have a blank CorelDRAW document open to
practise what is shown in this Factsheet.
The toolbox
CorelDraw is a drawing vector program that uses the tools shown
on the right to make and edit images. The toolbox is on the left of
the drawing area on the computer screen.
Most-used tools
The tools to use for creating tactile and large print images are
described below. For more detailed information access the
CorelDraw help files in the Help menu or open the Hints docker
(Window \ Dockers \ Hints), which will give you information on
using the currently selected tool. Tools not appropriate for tactile
image are not discussed.
1.
Use the Pick tool to select, size, skew, and rotate objects.
2.
Select the Shape tool to edit the shape of objects.
3.
Use the Crop tool to trim the size of an object or an
imported bitmap image. The Knife tool is accessed by
clicking on the crop tool and selecting the knife button from
the flyout menu. This tool slices an object into two objects.
The Eraser tool “rubs out” parts of an image. The Virtual
Segment Delete tool deletes the shape created by
overlapping shapes.
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Select the Zoom tool to enlarge or reduce your view of an
image. Click with the left mouse button to zoom in and the
right button to zoom out.
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4.
You can also use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and
out. This must be enabled in the preferences: Tools menu \
Options \ Workspace \ Display \ Default action for mouse
wheel \ Zoom
5.
There several tools for drawing lines; the most useful are the
Bezier tool and the Pen tool. Click the tool to make a cusp
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node, which will give a pointed segment, click and drag to
make a symmetrical node that gives a curved segment.
6.
The Smart Fill tool makes and fills a new shape where two
shapes overlap.
7.
To use the Rectangle tool and Ellipse tool click and drag. To
make a square or circle, press the control key while dragging.
If you hold shift down the shape will be drawn from the centre
not the corner.
8.
The Spiral tool and the Basic Shapes tool both have flyout
menus with a selection of stars, polygons, arrows, banners,
and callouts. Access the options in the property bar when the
tool is selected.
9.
Use the Text tool for creating text. Click the tool and type
anywhere in the document to make artistic text, which can
be stretched, resized and skewed liked a drawn object. Note
this will create distorted and unreadable text unless you are
careful.
Click and drag to make a text box to type paragraph text
into; this text will not distort or change size. If the text box is
reshaped the text will flow accordingly. The text can be
formatted using the options in the Property Bar at the top of
the drawing area or using the Paragraph and Character
formatting dockers accessed from the text menu.
Paragraph text can be converted to artistic text and vice
versa using the Convert to… command (Ctrl F8) in the Text
menu.
10. The Table tool creates a simple table. The number of
columns and rows can be amended in the Property Bar at the
top of the drawing area.
11. The Line Connector tool makes a line from a node on one
object to a node on another object. It has a flyout menu with
a selection connector lines. If one of the objects is moved
they stay connected. This could be used for flow charts. Note
the line is sometimes an inappropriate shape.
12. The Blend tool is for making a progression of intermediate
objects and colours between two objects, for example a blue
square changing to a red circle in a series of steps. Note
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patterns cannot be blended.
Pressing the Blend button will bring up the Blend docker
where you can specify the number of steps and other
parameters. These and more options are also available in the
property bar.
13. The Colour Eyedropper tool picks a colour from a shape
fill or line, or a bit map image placed on the page. It then
turns into a paint bucket tool and will colour anything that
is clicked. Note it will not pick up a pattern fill so is only
useful in large print images.
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14. The Outline Pen tool changes the outline property of an
object or the pen tool itself if no objects are selected. There is
a flyout menu with a range of line widths and a colour palette.
You can also bring up the advanced property palette where
lots
of properties can be set.
15. The Fill tool works like the previous tool and has a flyout
menu with a range of fill types. Only the uniform palette for
large print images and the bitmap pattern fill for tactile images
should be used.
Menus
Most menus and their content need no explanation, for instance
Print… on the File menu. One of the important menus is Arrange
where a lot of object organisation happens.
Arrange menu
The first item is Transformation. Selecting one of the items opens
a window where all five transformations can be accessed. They
give precise control of each transformation, for example rotation to
an exact angle.
The next item is Align and Distribute. The actions are all obvious
but notice the last in the menu is Align and Distribute … This
brings up a very useful window giving a number of variations on
how objects can be aligned and distributed.
Rather than use the Order menu it is quicker to use shift + page
up keys to bring an object to front, and shift + page down to send
an object to the back.
Similarly the Shaping menu does not need to be used.
When two or more closed objects are
selected, a group of buttons appears
in the property bar (see right) that
enable you to carry out various actions
on them, such as combining them into one object or cutting a hole
in an object using another object as a “cookie cutter”. Find out
what a button does by hovering over it with the cursor.
A shaping docker can be found in Windows \ Dockers \ Shaping.
Near the bottom of the menu is Convert Outline to Object. This
option turns a line into an object. This can be very useful for
quickly generating things like roads on a tactile map. It is a quick
way to get shapes with smooth parallel sides.
If the road is to be labelled make the line at least 30pt wide and
convert to object. It will become a shape filled with the colour of the
original line and have no outline. Give it an appropriate outline and
fill. Two objects can be welded together.
The last thing on the menu is Join Curves. This brings up the Join
Curves docker. What this does is explained in the editing section
below (page 14).
Effects menu
These effects give artistic changes to shapes, mainly in the form of
various distortions which would rarely be appropriate in a tactile
image.
Bitmaps menu
Similarly this menu provides various effects that can be applied to
imported bitmap images like JPGs and would rarely be appropriate
in a tactile image.
Window menu
The important item on this menu is access to CorelDRAW
Dockers. These are control panels which appear to the right of
your screen. The ones you will use the most are Object
Properties, Object Manager and possibly the Undo docker.
Object Properties
This gives control over the outline and fill of an object. When an
object is selected and a colour is clicked on in the Uniform Fill
palette, the object will be filled with that colour. If no objects are
selected and a colour is selected, it will become the default colour
– all subsequent shapes drawn will have that fill until it is changed.
On the Pattern Fill tab there are three buttons, the first gives black
and white bitmap fills. Very few of these fills are usable on tactile
images. However they can be edited. Make a box and give it any
pattern fill. With the box still selected click the Advanced …
button. Click the Create … button and a second window opens. A
Two-Colour Pattern Editor opens. You can make a new pattern
on the grid. A left click fills a square with black and a right click
makes it clear. On the 32 x 32 Bitmap size do not have dots
smaller than 3 squares by 3 squares or lines thinner than 3
squares because it will create a texture so fine it will not raise very
well on swell paper. The pattern you create in the editor is tiled
across your object. It is important you use the grid correctly to
avoid banding where one tile interferes with the adjacent tile.
This pattern will tile without problem but the second pattern will not.
The line on the right will join the first line of the next tile to the right
creating a thick line. The pattern will not be an even line texture, it
will have vertical bands.
It is not possible to create a new pattern fill palette that you can
load into your copy of CorelDRAW. If you make a CorelDRAW
page with a number of different texture squares created as above
and saved as a palette page, this will save having to be constantly
editing pattern fills. Copy a texture square from the palette onto
your image. Right click and drag the square over the object that
needs a fill, the cursor will change to crosshairs. Release and a
small menu appears, choose Copy Fill Here.
The Outline tab gives control over the line width, colour, style
(solid, dashed, dotted) and beginning and end arrowheads. The
only arrowhead suitable for tactile images is the very last one
(open headed).
The Advanced … button gives access to these controls and a few
more things. You can change Corners from pointed to rounded.
Sometimes a very sharp corner gives a large unwanted spike, this
can be controlled here. You can also edit the Style of the line –
make the dashes longer. Do not design a dashed or dotted line
with large gaps so the dashes become individual small objects
rather than a line. Editing the Calligraphy options is not
appropriate in tactile images, leave it at the default settings.
Object Manager
This gives control over the document, its pages, content and
layers.
The Layer feature allows you to separate and control groups of
objects in a file. It is helpful to think of layers as transparent sheets
of film placed on top of each other. Objects on a layer will obscure
objects on a lower layer where they overlap if the layer is made
visible.
Page control
Pages are also identified at the bottom of the page by tabs. There
is a page icon with a plus on it, to the left and right of the current
page identification. Clicking the one to the left inserts a page
before and clicking the one to the right inserts a page after the
current page.
Using layers
Use layers to separate colour and tactile versions of an image and
to separate the various grades of braille labels and titles. You can
have an unlimited number of custom layers in a file.
The illustration below shows the Object Manager with the custom
layers used for a typical tactile image file. The tactile layer is near
the bottom and braille layers are at the top.
The Show Object Properties button needs to be selected to get
this view. If the button on the right, Layer Manager View is
selected it overrides and you’ll see the layers but not their content.
Notice the braille G1 layer displays its contents but other layers do
not. This is controlled by the box to the left of the eye symbol, displays the objects, + hides the layer content. A layer with nothing
on it will not have this symbol like the braille layers at the top.
It is possible to:
 Make a layer invisible
 Disable printing for a layer
 Lock a layer (so its visible but objects cannot be selected)
Each layer can be made visible/invisible by clicking the eye
symbol. This is useful if you want to select everything on one layer
but not on other layers. Printing of a layer can be enabled/disabled
by clicking the small printer symbol and the layer can be
locked/unlocked by clicking the pencil symbol.
Clicking on a layer in the object manager will make it active. It will
be highlighted in red and any object you draw or paste while the
layer is active will be on this layer. If the Edit Across Layers to the
right of the Show Object Properties button is selected, existing
objects on non-active layers can be edited. Be aware an object
that is copied on a non-active layer will be placed on the active
layer. It is easy to have objects in the wrong place like this.
Creating new layers
New layers can be created using the Object Manager. There are
two buttons in the bottom left of the docker; the one on the left will
make a new layer, the one on the right will create new master
layer. Objects on the master layer will appear on every page of the
document.
Naming layers
The default name for a new layer is ‘Layer #’; this can be changed
at any time by double clicking the name that you want to change in
the docker and typing the new name in.
Stacking order of layers
The stacking order of the layers can be changed by dragging them
up and down the list.
Layer colour
There are small squares on each line in the Object Manager.
These show the outline colour objects in that layer when viewed in
wireframe view (View/Wireframe). This enables indentifying the
layer an object is on when working in the wireframe view.
The colour can be changed by double-clicking on the square and
choosing a colour from the drop-down palette.
The colour of the guides, and the grid at the bottom of the list can
be changed in the same way. The guides will be blue in the image
of the Object Manager above.
Printing guides and page grid
It is important to be aware of which layers have the printer icon
switched on. A layer can be made invisible but still be printable if
the printer icon is switched on. Ensure that the guide and grid
layers have printing disabled in the Object Manager unless you
specifically want guidelines and the page grid to print.
Layers and Duxbury for text and braille titles
and labels
Duxbury can be used for translating print text into braille (and the
reverse). It supports many braille codes including Standard English
Braille (SEB) and Unified English Braille (UEB).
Consider making a template page with LP and braille layers
already set up. This can be reused time and again. Select the LP
text layer by clicking on its name in the Object Manager. Its name
will be coloured red in the list when selected. Use the text tool to
type all necessary LP text (title, labels and keys) on the LP text
layer. Make all other layers invisible, select all (Ctrl A), select a
braille layer in the Object Manager, paste (Ctrl V)
Alternately if there is just a title or one or two labels, select the Pick
Tool from the Toolbox. Hold down the shift key and click on each
of the text blocks until you have them all selected, Press Ctrl C to
copy to the clipboard. Select a braille layer in the Object Manager
and paste the text from the clipboard into it (Ctrl V).
Continue to do this with all the braille layers.
Translating text using Duxbury (grade 2)
Open Duxbury braille translator, go to the File menu, select
New…, and choose English (British) – with capitals, in the
dialogue box. Go to the Layout menu, select Translation Codes
and select Grade 2 (contracted braille).
Go to the View menu, select Codes (this will now be ticked.
[tx][g2] will now show on the Duxbury page. Note it is important this
does not get accidentally deleted in the next steps.
Select a text block on the CorelDraw braille layer, select all to get
the text content, copy and paste into the Duxbury page.
Do ctrl T (translate), ctrl A (select all) and ctrl C (copy).
Go back to the CorelDraw document. The text block will still be
selected, if you paste ctrl V, the translated text will replace the
original text content. It will still be in Aerial font and may not have
changed at all, apart from there being no capital letters, this is
because there were no contractions in the words. There may be
numbers or other symbols in the words, these will form the correct
braille cell for the contraction.
Copy the next text block content. Delete the Duxbury Braille page
and the Duxbury Print page will reappear. Select the text from the
previous text block and paste the new text into it. Repeat the
translation as above until all text blocks are translated.
If the braille layer is the only one visible do ctrl A and change the
font of all labels and titles in one go from Aerial to Braille in the
Property Bar. Alternately if there is just a title or one or two labels,
select the Pick Tool from the Toolbox. Hold down the shift key and
click on each of the text blocks until you have them all selected.
The text blocks can also be selected the Object Manager. Then
change the font from Aerial to Braille in the Property Bar.
Translating text using Duxbury (grade 1)
Do as above but go to the Layout menu, select Translation
Codes and select Grade 1 (uncontracted braille). Go to the View
menu, select Codes (this will now be ticked. [tx][g1] will now show
on the Duxbury page. Note it is important this does not get
accidentally deleted in the next steps. This time the translated
braille will only be different if there are capitals, numbers or
punctuation.
Translating text using Duxbury (UEB)
Open Duxbury braille translator, go to the File menu, select New
…, and choose English (Unified) – basic, in the dialogue box.
The rest of the procedure is the same as above.
Editing an object in detail
Click on the object to select it. Dragging the handles (small black
squares) on the corners of its bounding box will resize an object
while maintaining its aspect ratio. Using the handles on the sides
will stretch or squash it.
Click on the object again – there will be a small circle at its centre;
drag this to change the centre of rotation. There will be doubleheaded arrows at the object’s corners and sides. Dragging a
corner arrow will rotate the object.
Using the arrows on the sides will skew the object.
Click on an object, drawn by the Bezier tool or the Pen tool, with
the Shape tool and you will see very small white squares along
the length of its outline, these are its nodes. Hover the shape tool
over a node and you will see the node enlarge.
There are three kinds of node: cusp, symmetrical and smooth. A
cusp node will make a point on a line; a symmetrical node will
make a curve that is the same on both sides of the node, and a
smooth node makes a curve that is different on both sides.
Click on a node and two handles with arrowheads become visible.
The shape of the line can be changed by moving the handles or
the node. A cusp node will only have handles if the adjacent nodes
are symmetrical or smooth nodes.
Cusp node
Symmetrical node
Smooth node
Note on the CorelDRAW page only one shape at a time will display
the node handles.
You can change a node’s type by using the buttons in the property
bar or by using keyboard commands: C toggles between cusp and
smooth, S toggles between smooth and symmetrical. Right clicking
a node brings up a small menu which also allows node type
change. You can also use this menu to close an open path and
break a closed path apart. The three paths above are all open
paths. A closed path is where the first node is clicked on by the last
node to join the path together, the shape will then fill automatically
with the current default fill.
A number of nodes can be selected for editing by holding down
the shift key while clicking on them or click and dragging to lasso
them.
To split an object with a straight line, select the Knife tool. Place
the cursor on its outline where you want the split to start (the knife
icon will be upright when positioned on the line correctly), click,
then move the cursor to where you want the line to end. A very thin
line indicates where the split would be as you move. When you are
over the outline again the cursor turns to a vertical position again,
after a second the thin line turns to the outline thickness. If you are
happy with the proposed edit, click and the object will be split into
two new objects. If not when you move the cursor the thin line will
return.
To split an object with a freehand line: place the cursor on its
outline where you want the split to start, click, hold down the
mouse button and drag the cursor to where you want the split to
end.
There are options for round, chamfered and scalloped corners for
rectangles, and pie shapes and arcs for ellipses. They can be
found in the property bar at the top of the drawing area when the
tool is selected. Select one option and use the Shape tool to
adjust the corners.
The drawn line
A line that is still an open shape can be added to. Select it with the
Pick tool, select the Bezier or Pen tool and hover over one of the
end nodes of the line. Notice the cursor changes and when it does
click. When you click again you will now be extending the line.
If the original line was drawn with the Bezier tool and you add to it
with the Pen tool, the line type will change to Pen.
The ends of two separate lines can be joined, effectively making
one object. Select both lines with the Pick tool holding shift down,
select the Shape tool and select the two end nodes you wish to
join, holding shift down. Activate the Join Curves docker (bottom
of the Arrange menu).
Notice there are two fields at the top, a choice of four methods of
joining and below it a Gap tolerance field. If the distance set is less
than the distance between the nodes, the lines will not join up.
When everything is set press Apply.
The ends are joined with a curve.
Other hints and tips
Symmetrical shapes can be easily produced using the
duplication, flip and weld tools. For instance making a vase, draw
one half.
Duplicate and then Mirror horizontally the copy. Align and
position the two halves so there is overlap.
Weld (property bar button) the halves which results in a perfectly
symmetrical object.
Correctly spaced tick marks on graph axis.
Put the first and last tick marks in the correct place on the x-axis.
Select all tick marks being careful not to select the x-axis line. 0pen
Align and Distribute … on the Arrange menu.
Align bottoms and distribute Spacing, click Apply. Both actions will
happen. Ticks can now be labelled.
Editing Object Tool shapes
An object drawn by an Object tool (oval, rectangle, polygon) can
be resized but they will always retain their shape type, apart from a
rectangle which can have its corners changed and an oval turned
into a pie or arc by the Shape tool. When the rectangle is selected
with the Shape tool all nodes are active. Adjusting them means
they all move the same amount.
If a node is clicked it remains selected and the others are
deselected. A second node can be selected by clicking it with the
shift key down. Only these corners will now be rounded.
Objects drawn by the Object tool can be further edited by the
Convert To Curves menu item.
When the circle is selected by the Shape tool it now has four
nodes and if one is clicked Bezier handles appear. If the down
arrow key is pressed the node will move vertically down creating a
perfectly symmetric egg shape.
If the node is deleted the shape does not change shape but if that
line segment is selected and changed to line, a perfect hemisphere is created.
Extra nodes can be added to create more complicated shapes. A
big advantage to this is it is easy to retain some of the original
qualities, the vertical parallel sides in this case. Drawn with the
Bezier tool this would be a harder task.
Using the alignment tool
Single objects are easy to align. Aligning the components of a face
is a bit trickier. The face, nose and mouth would all align, but the
eyes would sit on top of each other. So space the eyes
appropriately and align horizontally. Then group them, so
effectively they become one object, it will now work.
Deleting hidden items
Sometimes a shape or object needs to be drawn over if it is acting
as a template or marker. The problem is once the new line work is
complete it covers the template making it difficult to access for
deletion. Before starting work draw a small rectangle on the edge
of the page. Group it with the objects that will later need deletion.
When you are finished drawing, select the square which will select
your template as well so deletion is easy.